This invention pertains to the creation of a plural-layer barrier coating which is applied to the outside of the wall of a liquid container, such as a liquid container containing hydrocarbon fuel, for the purpose of defeating any substantial leak of fluid from that container on the occurrence of a puncture wound, such as bullet wound. For the purpose of illustration and description herein, the invention is described in conjunction with protecting a fuel-supply tank in a military fuel-supply vehicle, and further in the context of an overall protective coating which includes three layers. This environment is one wherein the invention has been found to offer particular utility, though it should be understood that the principles of the invention and all of its features may be utilized in other liquid-container protection circumstances.
Very specifically, the present invention relates to a methodology which is particularly associated with the creation, in such an overall coating, of a special composite-material layer which includes a body of high-elastomeric material in which there resides a distribution of a plurality of small, liquid-reactive, liquid-imbiber, bead elements, or beads, designed to react, in part, with liquid-imbibing, and resulting three-dimensional swelling, on contact with any leakage of liquid coming from a puncture wound in a protected container.
According to a preferred manner of practicing the invention, the subject composite-material layer is formed from a body of the mentioned high-elastomeric material, and specifically from such material which has resulted from the catalyzed pre-combination of two precursor elastomeric materials which, once combined and blended, react with one another chemically to cure to a final high-elastomeric material. Introduced in various, selectable, different ways into this material, before it becomes a “finalized layer” in a coating of the type described, is a measured quantity of small liquid-imbiber elements (beads) of the type generally mentioned above.
In this context, and as will be seen from the detailed description which follows below, the methodology of the invention is practicable in a number of different particular modes, each of which involves a somewhat different manner of combining the high-elastomeric and bead constituent elements utilized to make the intended composite-material layer. In particular, the described different modes and manners of combining these materials provides a user with an option to vary the length of time that the included imbiber beads are directly, contactively exposed to liquid elastomer material before the overall blend of materials is finally applied to a target surface to form the resulting, desired, composite-material layer. This “time-control” offering of the present invention has been found to allow for the production of differently characterized composite-material layers, wherein the liquid-imbibing and three-dimensional swelling responses of the imbiber elements, when exposed the leakage fluid, can be larger or smaller depending upon how much time elapses between the time of layer finalization, and the time of initial contactive engagement between elastomeric material and the imbiber-bead material. Very specifically, we have found that the effective aggressiveness with which the mentioned imbiber beads in a final composite-material layer respond to leakage liquid is related to the time of exposure which these elements have to liquid elastomeric material before final “curing” of the created composite-material layer. This timing control thus offers a user various options for “tailoring” an anti-leakage barrier coating's response characteristics relating to sealing against puncture-wound leakage in different, specific circumstances.
All of the features and advantages of the present invention will become now more fully appreciated as the detailed description which follows is viewed in conjunction with the several accompanying drawing figures.